Marnis new creative chief sports a colourful collage while Dolce &amp; Gabbana serves up the champers and Instagram

Sunday at Milan fashion week was the setting of two very different stories. First up was Marni, which made its name for cerebral clothes loved by the art crowd, with a womenswear debut from new designer Francesco Risso.

And then Dolce & Gabbana, a label that, increasingly, loves a catwalk stunt to generate chatter around its leopard print and lace-fuelled glamour. This time that came through casting influencers Instagram stars, children of celebrities, even magazine editors as models. The contrast between the two shows could not have been more extreme.

Following the departure of Marnis founder and creative director, Consuelo Castiglioni, from the company in October last year, Francesco Risso, 33, an ex-Prada designer, took over as creative director. This Sunday morning in Milan was his first womenswear show.

That was also there in oversized hats, Big Bird-worthy pastel-coloured fuzzy coats, and vinyl jackets. Seventies prints, sickly sweet colours and nipped in trouser suits, meanwhile, revealed the influence of the designers previous employer. It felt like a collection designed to plant the seeds of something to grow rather than ripping up what came before and starting again.

Backstage, Risso a lanky puppyish presence with a mop of curly hair, wearing a vintage Western shirt showed his millennial credentials. He said he was super excited by his new role, and explained, slightly gnomically, that the collection was called be1ngs to include different identities. The one is in place of the i so singularity and plurality are equally important in this collection, he explained.

He also paid tribute to Castiglioni. Consuelo and the work she has done is so important to me, he said. She was so amazing in freeing stereotyped vision of a woman or a man. That is something that I really care about and I want to fight for.